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| This article is about the character within the Skylanders Academy continuity. You may be looking for the character canon to the Skylanders comics or his Legend of Spyro counterpart. |
- “You convinced Cynder, my only child, to join your team of Sky-fools - and renounce her birthright as my evil heir - and you think I will just let bygones be BYGONES?!”
- —Malefor, Touch of Evil
Malefor is the evil Undead Dragon King and a villain in the Skylanders Academy television series. Reigning over the Cadaverous Crypts, he is a violet dragon and the father of the Skylander cadet, Cynder.
Background
Personality
Though he is a ruthless enslaver and deciever, determined to make Cynder walk the path of evil against her will, Malefor has somewhat of a nicer side, being interested in letting his daughter have fun before she turned against him. He struggles to be a good father while doing evil at the same time.[1] He also has a bit of a sadistic side to his personality and displays a lot of dominance behavior, particularly towards Spyro, who is the remaining descendant of a dragon race Malefor has a deep hatred for. Unlike his canon counterpart, Malefor still puts reason above his pride, and struck a deal with Kaos instead of making new enemies.
Abilities
Malefor has a powerful fire breath and impressive strength due to his size. As a master of Undead arts, he can also tap into dimensions beyond Skylands. He is a cunning manipulator, using his family's talent of brilliant acting to fool others (even his own daughter) into letting their guard down.
Story
History
Malefor is one of the most fearsome and powerful villains in Skylands; the evil dragon king of the Cadaverous Crypts. During his reign, he became sworn enemies with the Spyro's dragon kind, who were protectors of the Core of Light before they disappeared. He has high expectations of his daughter Cynder becoming an evil dragon overlord like him, unaware that she doesn't want to follow in her father's footsteps.
Season 2
In Return to Cynder, Cynder had snuck away from her father by claiming she was going to the mall. Malefor eventually found Cynder in the underworld, and during their conversation about taco night, the evil dragon king noticed Team Spyro and engaged them in battle. Spyro declared that they won't leave without Cynder, who had recently came to Skylanders Academy to become a Skylander. Malefor however, believed Cynder won't abandon her birthright and knew that her destiny was to rule the Cadaverous Crypts by his side.
Spyro defending Cynder from her father, Malefor
As the fight raged on, Malefor pinned Spyro down and discovered that the young dragon is the last of his species, who were Malefor's sworn enemies. He then claimed that he had a hand in helping wipe out Spyro's family and attempted to kill Spyro right there and then to finally rid the realm of his adversaries. However Cynder saved Spyro from her father's wrath and she stood up to Malefor by declaring that she wants to be a Skylander before leaving with Spyro and the other Skylanders. Angered by this betrayal, Malefor disowned Cynder, proclaiming that she would be his enemy the next time they meet, and he won't save any tacos for her.
In Touch of Evil, Malefor was approached in The Underworld by Spyro, who came to the dragon king at the request of sending Spyro to the dimension where his ancestors were sent to by Master Eon. Still infuriated over Spyro's hand in turning his only child Cynder to the side of good, Malefor instead attacked Spyro furiously and subdued him after drawing the Skylander out by claiming to know the whereabouts of Spyro's parents. With Spyro in his clutches, the dragon king delivered a broadcast to all of Skylands that he had captured Spyro to be his slave and would return the purple dragon safely to Skylander Academy if the Skylanders return Cynder back to the dragon king, with her pledging herself to evil. If the demands weren't met by sundown, Spyro won't be seen again.
While waiting for the Skylanders, Malefor revealed to a weakened Spyro that he planned to take both Cynder and Spyro back to the Cadaverous Crypts forever when she comes for the young dragon. The evil wizard Kaos came to Malefor and wanted to take Spyro under Strykore's orders, much to the dragon king's surprise. In return for handing Spyro over, Malefor would not face Kaos and Strykore's wrath. Malefor then gave Spyro over to Kaos off-screen after cogitating his decision.
Hiding this exchange from the Skylanders, Malefor found Cynder, who came for Spyro after hearing her father's ransom. The dragon king insisted that the Skylanders aren't Cynder's friends and that she would understand in due time. Cynder retorted that the Skylanders showed her true friendship than Malefor ever could, angering him. Suddenly, she gave out a signal, and Team Spyro and Master Eon sprung out, attacking Malefor at full force alongside Cynder. Malefor collapsed in pain from the assault, and seeing Cynder nearby, he feigned repentance, easily tricking her into protecting her father from further interrogation and attacks despite Eon's warnings of brilliant acting running in her family. This allowed the dragon king to recover and successfully capture his daughter, taking Cynder away to parts unknown.
Season 3
Malefor cornering Team Spyro
Malefor had kept Cynder in the depths in the underworld for months until the events of Raiders of the Lost Arkus, Part 1. The evil dragon king attempted to stop Team Spyro from rescuing his daughter and was able to capture them when Spyro panicked, accidentally disrutping their attack strategy. After scolding Cynder for again associating with the Skylanders, Malefor planned to drain Team Spyro of their light energy to give him the power to bring his undead minions from the Underworld and take over the Skylands. However Spyro revealed to Malefor that he was still working for Strykore and that the evil sorcerer was eager for the dragon king to join him. Intrigued, Malefor released Spyro so that he can grant the dragon king the power of invisibility, initially unaware that it was all a ruse so that Cynder can free the other Skylanders.
Upon seeing Cynder making her escape with Team Spyro, Malefor gave chase, soon becoming infuriated when Spyro revealed that he never made the dragon king invisible. The angry dragon king tried to impale Spyro with his tail spike during the pursuit, but wound up accidentally lodging his tail to a floating island, which was sent flying backwards, allowing Team Spyro and Cynder to fully escape him.
Relationships
Cynder
Before her betrayal of his expectations, Malefor allowed his daughter to have fun texting or in malls and treated her to taco nights. Like any parent, he gave her some rules, such as not wanting Cynder to associate with non-evil beings like Skylanders and not allowing her to text during dinner. However, after Cynder decided to join the side of good, he announced that she would no longer be his daughter, but his enemy (implying he intended to disown her). Despite this, in Touch of Evil, he still cares for her (in his own way) as he was wrathful towards Spyro for playing a part in Cynder defecting to good, and sought to kidnap Cynder and try to make her evil again. Despite his dotting treatment towards Cynder, it is heavily implied he doesn't hug her enough, as hinted by Cynder in Split Decision.
Spyro
The Dragon King was greatly insulted by Spyro's audacity at every turn and responds with greater violence during their battles, as well as holding the grudge from his encounters with Spyro's ancestors to recent days. His hatred towards Spyro grew, as the young dragon is responsible for convincing Cynder, his only child and evil heir to the throne, to join the Skylanders.
Kaos
Malefor sees Kaos as a nuisance, at first threatening the wizard to leave the dragon king's domain or else he'll suffer the same pain Spyro was enduring. When Kaos reveals his alliance with Strykore, Malefor's tone is changed entirely.
Strykore
Malefor seems to know of Strykore's fearsome reputation, as he readily complied with Kaos' demands for Spyro upon hearing that Strykore had plans for him. In Season 3, he has an eagerness to be a great asset to Strykore and is willing to be at his service.
Gallery
Trivia
- Malefor's show design is a combination of his original design from The Legend of Spyro, and his canon Skylanders counterpart, but incorporates new exclusive traits:
- His body features glowing lava-like markings between his scales, along the sides of his neck and behind a single pointed scale on his forehead (between his eyebrows). The inside of his mouth and nostrils also glow like these markings.
- Instead of having dark pink/purple scales, he has pale violet/indigo scales.
- When viewed from a distance, his scales appear smooth (much like the scales of Spyro and Cynder), but up close his scales can be seen as rougher and more defined (likely due to Malefor's greater age in comparison to Spyro and Cynder's).
- His horns have dull, insaturated colors, and his chin spikes are the same color as his scales, like his original The Legend of Spyro design.
- He has the bracelets and tail spike, along with the immense, towering height, of his canon counterpart. Unlike said appearance, his tail is simply shaped oddly and with segmented scales rather than being a prosthetic.
- In Return to Cynder, he briefly mimics his pose on the cover of the second issue of Return of the Dragon King, holding Spyro against his face.
- Though Malefor's original voice actor Mark Hamill was considered, the actor was involved in the film shooting of Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi at the time of recording and was unavaliable.[2]
- Instead, he is voiced by Jim Cummings, best known as the voice of various Disney characters, such as Pete, Darkwing Duck, and is the current voice of Winnie the Pooh (among numerous other roles).
- Unlike his other counterparts, Malefor's name is pronounced slightly differently in Skylanders Academy.
- The normal pronunciation is "ma-luh-for", whereas the Academy pronunciation is "mal-for".
- Like his previous incarnations, Malefor has direct ties to Cynder.
- In The Legend of Spyro series and the main Skylanders canon, Malefor stole the egg that would eventually hatch into Cynder, and corrupted her into his evil servant.
- In the Skylanders Academy continuity, Malefor is said to be Cynder's father, but unlike the other cases there is currently no evidence against her being his biological daughter.
- Unlike his previous incarnations, who were corrupted Purple Dragons of Prophecy, this incarnation of Malefor is a Violet Dragon, a species of dragon that are evil.
- Also, the distance between the two large horns on Malefor's head is much more narrow in comparison to his previous two incarnations.
- The idea of brilliant acting running in his family may be a reference to his first incarnation from The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon where, with just a few clever word choices, he made Cynder doubt herself long enough for him to once again corrupt her to his side.